Night Terrors
by RoseyChickadee
Summary: Companion piece to His 'Queen' It isn't easy when you're solely responsible for your golden-haired 5-year-old cousin. For Kakashi, it gets even harder when Mika begins having night terrors and nightmares about things that aren't too far removed from reality. One-shot


_**Merry late Christmas, everybody! Here's a companion story to His 'Queen'!**  
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_**I would have had this posted on Christmas Day, but for some reason, FanFiction wouldn't work for me :(**_

_**To all the people who are subscribed to me, I deeply apologize for the lack of updates. I began college at the beginning of the summer and have had very little down time to work on any of my stories. I hope that this chapter, as well as the other chapters that I will be posting today, will more than make up for that.**_

_**Please note that this isn't a particularly happy story. I thought I'd give some insight to the strange relationship that Kakashi and Mika have and this is what came to mind. After all, almost everyone can relate to having nightmares...  
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_Why was she here? She was supposed to be at home getting ready for her big brother to come home from his mission. She was going to cook his favorite dish, or at least try to cook it, seeing how the last time she tried cooking, the dish had come out looking and tasting like charcoal…_

_ But for whatever reason, the Hokage had summoned her and her big brother's best friend and rival, Guy, had escorted her to the Hokage's office. She couldn't quite make out what he was saying. She could tell that it wasn't good from the frown on the old man's face and the sorrow in that same man's eyes._

_ The blood in her veins froze when the Hokage picked up an urn off his desk, an urn that she could have sworn wasn't there a moment ago, and handed it to her. Her mouth opened to scream, though no sound came out, when the Hokage turned around and picked up a picture frame off of his desk. She tried to refuse the picture as he handed it to her, the tears streaming from her eyes almost blurring the memorial photo of the person who had been raising her for her young life…_

Kakashi bolted upright upon hearing Mika's screams from her bedroom. He threw his covers off and dashed out of his room and into hers, unsure of what could be causing her such distress at this time of night. His little cousin lay thrashing in her bed, her covers a jumbled mess around her and her pillow lying on the floor.

As carefully as he could, trying to inadvertently harming Mika, Kakashi sat on her bed and began stroking her hair, whispering her name over and over as he had come to do whenever she had one of these "night terrors", as the doctor had called them when he had inquired about Mika's screaming in the middle of the night. That same doctor had also explained that these terrors were common in young children and normally went away by the time they turned 6 or 7. All Kakashi knew, though, was that he hated seeing his last family member in such pain and being almost powerless to help her.

Tonight would prove different, however, as Mika's sky blue eyes shot open after a few minutes of him sitting there and stroking her hair. To say Kakashi was surprised at this would be accurate; ever since these night terrors had started, Mika had never once reacted to his attempts to comfort her. He leaned in, a small smile on his lips, and kissed her forehead. When he backed away, he noticed the tears welling in her big eyes and how ashen her face was.

He tucked a few loose hairs behind her ear as he began to ask, "Mika, what…?"

"You were dead…you _died_, nii-san…"

That declaration hit Kakashi like a ton of bricks. Long ago, he had accepted that he could die on any mission he went out on, but back then he hadn't beenresponsible for anyone else nor had he had anyone waiting for him to come home. Now he had Mika, a small child who hadn't come to realize or accept that his death could become part of her reality, and he couldn't bring it on himself to force her to accept that.

The small girl began hiccupping as she tried to stifle her tears and sobs, and all Kakashi could do was scoop up her small frame and hold her close to him. Her small arms wrapped around him as best as they could, and the two of them just sat there in the quiet and stillness of the night, holding each other tight. The moments ticked by, and after Mika's hiccups and sobs had subdued, Kakashi murmured, "Would you like to sleep in my bed tonight, Mika-chan?"

A nod was all the answer he needed, and the Jounin stood slowly, making sure to keep a firm hold on his cousin as he walked back to his room. He didn't even bother to shut his door behind him as he crawled into his bed, Mika still clinging to him, and pulled the covers over the both of them. It wasn't too much longer before Mika's breathing evened out and she fell back asleep, but still Kakashi stayed awake for a while longer to make sure that the terrors didn't immediately resurface.

There wasn't much that he could do to fight the fears that his little cousin, the little girl he had come to see as his little sister the same as she viewed him as her older brother, constantly battled against. But if holding her tight while she cried helped her, then he'd do everything he could to always hold her when she cried.

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_**I don't normally write short stories like this, but I hope I did a good job :) Let me know what you think through a review or a PM, whichever you'd like.  
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_**Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! See you on New Year's with a special short story~~!  
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